FDA to expedite public release of guidance documents related to COVID-19

Meg Egan-Auderset

Medical & Regulatory Writer, Cortellis

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The FDA has announced an expedited process for making COVID-19-related guidance documents available to the public (Federal Register, 25-March-2020). The intent is to “allow the agency to rapidly disseminate essential agency recommendations and policies related to COVID-19 to industry, FDA staff, and other stakeholders,” the FDA stated in its Federal Register announcement. Note: The process is specific to FDA guidance documents related to the COVID-19 public health emergency; it does not extend to other FDA guidance documents.

Because of “the need to act quickly and efficiently,” the FDA “anticipates” it will issue COVID-19 related guidance documents without prior public comment.

The agency will still “solicit comment, review all comments received, and revise the guidance documents as appropriate,” but not prior to publication. Each guidance document will note the relevant docket number(s) for submitting comments.

Rather than a separate Notice of Availability (NOA) for each guidance document, the FDA periodically will publish a consolidated NOA for the various guidance documents related to COVID-19. The consolidated NOA will include instructions for submitting comments.

The FDA intends to establish a separate docket for each of the agency centers or offices that may issue guidance documents related to COVID-19. Table 1 lists the FDA centers/offices and their docket numbers.

The FDA published the agency’s first COVID-19-specific guidance on February 29, then issued an update to it on March 16: Policy for Diagnostic Tests for Coronavirus Disease-2019 during the Public Health Emergency. It took immediate effect. [The agency subsequently held a public workshop on the guidance to engage with clinical laboratories and commercial manufacturers that are developing or have developed diagnostic tests for SARS-CoV-2.] The FDA issued 13 pandemic-related guidance documents between March 14 and March 26 on topics ranging from clinical trial conduct and adverse event reporting to ventilators and alcohol-based hand sanitizers.

Continue checking our blog posts for additional updates and late-breaking news related to COVID-19. Cortellis Regulatory Intelligence users should set up alerts to receive updates on their desktop, or in the Cortellis Regulatory Intelligence mobile app.